EDITORIAL: Egypt's Morsi failed to meet expectations

In retrospect, Mohammed Morsi, ousted last week as Egypt’s president, should have done what he’d promised voters in the country’s first free election: Rebuild the economy, beginning with tourism, by reassuring the safety of tourists. Crack down on the kind of petty corruption that unduly infuriates the public. Remove barriers to foreign investment. Attack youth unemployment with public works programs. Greatly step up trade with Israel, the Middle East’s most developed economy .

This is what Morsi was elected and failed to do. The public disillusionment was overwhelming and manifested itself in the massive public demonstrations that finally persuaded the military to remove him from office.

Morsi, a longtime member of the Muslim Brotherhood, began to implement, quietly at first, what is called “political Islam.”

Last week, the military gave Morsi 48 hours to begin tackling the economic problems. When he failed to meet that impossible deadline, the military removed him.

Morsi is no great loss. He was an ineffectual leader and his brand of political Islam promised problems. But his ouster was a setback for our espoused principle of elected democracy.